BREAKING: Robert E. Lee statue, erected in 1890, removed from its pedestal on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia.
Last week, Virginia’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the state could remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, saying “values change and public policy changes, too” in a democracy.
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Virginia promised to forever maintain the statue in the 1887 and 1890 deeds that transferred its ownership to the state. But the justices said that obligation no longer applies.
“Those restrictive covenants are unenforceable as contrary to public policy & for being unreasonable because their effect is to compel gov't speech, by forcing the Commonwealth to express, in perpetuity, a message with which it now disagrees,” they wrote.
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“This is an important step in showing who we are and what we value as a commonwealth," Gov. Ralph Northam said when announcing final plans for the removal.
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nbcnews.to/3yS4UUk
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